An All Saints Day Sunday Thought About the Liturgy
It's unusual: All Saints Day falls on a Sunday this year. And, more unusual, the newfangled calendar doesn't ignore it or bump it to another day. So - happy day - both calendars agree: It's All Saints Day!
With that we continue our exploration of the depth, richness, and importance of the Liturgy to our spiritual growth which has occupied us these past Sundays. Today we focus on the Liturgical Year.
It begins on the first Sunday of Advent and extends a full 12 months. We refer to it from time to time in our posts. In fact, every year we re-publish posts to help us plan our work for the coming year. We try to get our plan in place by the beginning of the Liturgical Year. If you want to know why, check those posts again, beginning a few weeks before Thanksgiving.
Do you think of the Liturgical Year, or follow its progress as it moves from Advent to Christmas to Lent to Easter and back to Advent again? If not, consider doing that from now on. The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Jean Baptiste Chautard might provide some motivation and inspiration here, if you need it:
"At each period in the liturgical Cycle, my Missal and Breviary disclose to me new ways of love of Him Who is for us at the same time Teacher, Doctor, Consoler, Savior, and Friend. On the altar, just as at Bethlehem or Nazareth, or on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias, Jesus reveals Himself as Light, Love, Kindness, and Mercy. He reveals Himself above all as Love personified, because He is Suffering personified, in agony at Gethsemani, atoning on Calvary.
And so the liturgical life gives the Eucharistic life its full development. And Your Incarnation, O Jesus, that brought God close to us, making him visible to us in You, continues to do the very same thing for us all, in each of the mysteries that we celebrate."
Following the Liturgical Year thus enhances the Liturgy itself. Of course, if you attend Mass, or participate in any of the other parts of the Liturgy - e.g., praying the Divine Office - you will in effect be following the Liturgical Year. But I have found that making the effort to follow the Liturgical Year, apart from my participation in/praying the Liturgy helps bring the Liturgy to life. Here's a simple example from the very beginning of the Liturgical Year: the first Sunday of Advent.
When we show up for Mass, right away we notice the priest's vestments are purple. Perhaps our parish displays an Advent wreath and the priest lights the first candle. A new Liturgical year has begun with a new Liturgical Season, one of preparation and penance. While most of us understand this contrast between Advent and what came before, as well as what comes after (the Christmas Season), the Liturgical Year extends for the full 52 weeks of the Year. While the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter justly command a special attention and devotion, we would do well to appreciate those full 52 weeks. Dom Chautard addresses Our Lord when contemplating the fullness of the Liturgical calendar:
"So it is, dear Lord, that thanks to the Liturgy, I can share in the Church's life and Your own. With her, every year, I witness the mysteries of Your Hidden life, Your Public life, Life of Suffering, Life of Glory; and with her I cull the fruits of them all."
We see here that it's not just a matter of observing the calendar. We actively engage with the Liturgy using the calendar to relate it to the life of Jesus. In doing so, we "cull the fruits" of the mysteries of His Life here on earth. For example, rather than simply acknowledge it, we want to enter into the mystery of Our Lord's Passion and Death. Yes, mystery. How is it that His suffering and dying allows us to hope for eternal life after death - a life of infinite joy and happiness? What is the connection here? There's much to study and much on which we can meditate to plumb the depths of this mystery alone. And the Liturgical Year is filled with such mystery.
And there's more: The Liturgical Year also brings us so many feasts of Our Lady and the Saints. Without our attending to these throughout the year, they simply pass us by. And with them pass so many opportunities for grace, for growing closer to God through their example.
"...the periodic feasts of Our Lady and the Saints who have best imitated Your interior Life bring me, also, an increase of light and strength by placing their example before my eyes, helping me to reproduce Your virtues in myself..."
To the extent we find it daunting to believe we can imitate Christ's example, live as He did, the feasts of the Our Lady and the Saints can serve as a means to approach Christ's life more confidently. While it's true Our Blessed Mother was born without Original Sin, the same can't be said for the other saints. They were in every way like us. While not all were great sinners, some indeed were. We learn of St. Augustine who lived with a woman who bore his child out of wedlock. He persisted in this relationship even after realizing that it was wrong. He didn't want to give up the convenient pleasure it afforded him.
Following the Liturgical calendar brings so many saints to our attention, almost on a daily basis. Developing the habit of checking the calendar each day, I can on occasion, when time permits, read about the life of that day's saint. You can find these in a book about the lives of the saints, or find good sources online as well. Over time, you may cultivate special devotion to this or that saint whose life may be particularly "approachable." We're all different, as were the saints. Knowing many of them brings out those differences. While we can certainly pray to any saint, those with whom you have a special relationship can become like friends whose company you particularly enjoy.
Oh, there's just so much richness in following the Liturgical Year. We could go on and on. Instead, let's take a few moments to appreciate today's Liturgy, and look forward to the rest of this Liturgical Year. It's almost done, you know. And then a new year begins again.
Next Sunday, we'll dig even deeper and flush out even more of the joys and blessings of the Liturgy.
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